Legend of the Purple Dragon: A New Age
by Fire Shallows
Summary: Ten generations have passed and the legend of the purple dragon is all but lost; thought of by most as a mere fairytale. Now with the coming of another purple dragon, the world may be forced to re-discover it. Leaving her life behind, Aura must unravel her own nature, but with civil war brewing and a sinister presence following her every move, she may have her work cut out for her.


Prologue

Glacia ran.

Exhausted though she was and as much as her lungs burnt, she knew that she mustn't stop.

The dark forest seemed to unfold eternally in front of her, but still she ran through the bushes and streams, leaping over fallen trees and boulders, guided only by what pale beams of moonlight could penetrate the thick canopy, not once even so much as glancing backwards.

Suddenly, piercing shrieks broke out behind her, coaxing Glacia to quicken her pace to a sprint, forcing her already battered and scorched body onwards.

Momentarily she focussed upon the small stream of scarlet blood trickling from her left wing, down her sapphire scales and onto the forest floor. She'd known that it would only be a matter of time before they found her again.

One by one, the cries in the distance came, each time closer and each time more bloodthirsty.

Despite her determination, Glacia knew that she couldn't keep this pace up for much further, and the more she continued to run, the heavier her legs seemed to become; she feared that she may collapse at any second.

Still the screeches came, ever closer and this time Glacia thought that she could even make out actual voices barking commands.

Up ahead Glacia could see a pinpoint of light through the trees and as she hurtled closer, streaks of brown and green shifting by, she realised to her horror that it was a vast opening in the forest, silver moonlight flooding through.

Glacia knew that if she went out there, they would spot her instantly. She wouldn't stand a chance.

Skidding to a halt about 20 yards short of the clearing, she began to panic.

With no quick way around the clearing and voices sounding dangerously near, she thrust herself into the hollow of a nearby tree, breathing heavily through clenched teeth and hoping beyond hope that no-one would find her.

She waited there second by painstaking second, straining her ears to try and hear what was happening.

In the darkness she could hear footsteps marching nearer and nearer, so close that she was almost certain they would catch her. She held her breath as best she could, her lungs still stinging from the chase, until the marching continued onwards towards the clearing and finally she could hear the sound of flapping wings.

Glacia let out a small sigh of relief.

"Wait!" a voice came suddenly from the back of where Glacia had heard the group take off. Glacia's eyes widened and she clamped her mouth shut.

"What is it?" another voice replied. It seemed that there weren't many left, perhaps only two or three; Glacia ventured a peek out from the side of the tree. Two dark, cloaked dragon silhouettes stood there, not as far away from her as she would like. Glacia ducked her head back into the hollow and continued to wait.

Slowly, as to not alert the figures outside, she placed the woven basket she had been carrying in her mouth down on the floor and leaned her head over her shoulder to where her wing still bled. She was in no condition to be flying, at least not for very long, but she was running out of options. Picking up the basket once more, she prepared for what was to come.

"Are you sure?" came the second voice again.

"Certain," replied the first, "She's definitely here". Both voices were gruff and callous. They were now moving around seemingly at random.

"But the captain's already moved on, even if she is here, shouldn't we just leave her? It's not like she can turn back, can she?"

What did he mean; she couldn't turn back? Glacia was very confused. Was it starting to get hotter?

"No, she's carrying something very delicate and very important, we can't run the risk of it being burnt up and neither can she".

Burnt up!? Glacia caught a glimpse of flickering orange out of the corner of her eye and grimly she realised what they had done.

"Isn't that right, girly?" the first continued, this time addressing her directly. "Just give us what we want and we'll let you go. No-one needs to be hurt any more than they already have been".

Glacia was panicking again. It would be just like the village all over again. Fire and death.

They didn't know where she was yet, but in a few moments that wouldn't matter.

The second dragon didn't seem too impressed by the first's antics.

"Well, you can keep talking to yourself back here to your heart's content, I'm gonna head back to the rest of the group before I get court-marshalled.

Glacia could hear wings flapping and then the second dragon was gone.

Only one left, good, she thought, though in truth it didn't make her feel much better. The flares of the dying forest were so bright now that she could see out of her hiding spot as if it were almost daylight.

Still the first dragon loomed, ever persistent.

"Peh! I don't need backup to kill a weakling like you!"

He was almost certainly right; even in good physical condition, using her element would be an impossibility whilst holding the basket. She only had one choice.

Just as her pursuer's hooded head slid into view through the tree's hollow, Glacia threw herself forward, whipping her tail around in a circle so that its diamond shaped white blade connected powerfully with the surprised dragon's face, knocking him to the ground.

Landing on her feet, Glacia broke into a sprint, heading for the clearing, but just before she could reach it, a huge weight collided abruptly with her back, crushing her painfully to the forest floor and making her lose grip on the basket, which bounced and rolled out in front of her.

The dragon she had knocked down had recovered far more quickly than she had anticipated and now his attention turned to the basket. Leaping towards it with intent, the cloaked dragon took his weight off of Glacia.

He thought that he'd make a quick escape with the basket, but he'd underestimated her and seeing her chance, Glacia jumped to her feet and charged at him, releasing a short burst of ice from her maw. It wasn't much, but it staggered the dragon long enough to allow her to catch up with him, broad-siding him and tackling him to the ground once more, knocking back his hood to reveal his blood red scales.

Unfortunately for Glacia, in these close quarters, she was easily overpowered and the now unhooded dragon wrestled her around so that he was on top of her, pinning her in position. Glacia squirmed and writhed to break free, but the grip was vice-like; this time the red dragon was going to make sure that she was out of the picture before going after the basket.

Raising one paw, the dragon went for Glacia's neck, slamming his claws down and slashing three parallel lines through her scales.

Glacia wailed in agony. At this point, it probably didn't matter if anyone heard her.

The red dragon struck again, this time with a hard butt to the head with the front of his jagged horns. Glacia lost her focus and went limp, her head flopping sideways, leaving her neck wide open.

As her aggressor readied the final blow, Glacia saw something glowing in the sky through the clearing, getting larger and larger, a large ball of blinding light coming straight for her like a falling star.

For Glacia, time seemed to slow down as the red dragon's claws sliced through the air, hovering moments away from her doom.

A split second before the talons connected, a blur of fiery orange came streaking over Glacia, smashing straight into the red dragon, sending him careering off down the forest path with it.

Glacia rolled to her feet and took shaky steps towards the basket, grasping it in her mouth upon reaching it.

Only then did she turn around and for the first time face the blazing inferno that had followed in her wake.

In front of her stood a colossal wall of flames, steadily approaching, destroying all in its path... and mere metres away from it two figures clashed, silhouetted against the fire, wrestling and slashing each other. Glacia just stood there, still dazed from the blow to her head as the fire crept closer.

After the initial collision, it was clear that one of the figures had the upper hand on their opponent, staying on top in a dominant position, laying a constant stream of strikes down upon the other until with one final triumphant blow from above, the figure beneath flopped in defeat.

The victorious figure rose and despite still being darkened by the contrast of the flames behind them, Glacia could tell that their focus had now shifted to her. Finally regaining her senses, Glacia began to turn tail and flee until she heard a voice from behind her.

"Glacia!" the cry came. The voice was a familiar one, one that she could remember hearing almost every day for as long as she could remember.

"Char!" Glacia exclaimed and as the figure ran towards her, she too ran towards him until the figure became a tall, orange-scaled dragon.

Upon reaching each other, the reunited dragon and dragoness embraced each other warmly, each resting their neck against the other's shoulder, Glacia's pearl white chest scales brushing against Char's own ebony black.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Glacia breathed, almost in tears. Breaking from the hold, Char looked deeply into her cerulean eyes.

"Neither did I," he replied. "After we were separated, I tried to hold them off and buy you some time, but there were too many of them and the majority of the march got around me. I kept low behind them and followed them in the hopes that they would lead me to you" he smiled "And here you are".

Char's eyes glanced over Glacia's body, finding it hard to fully take in her presence. After a few moments they settled upon her wounded wing and bloodied neck; here the corners of Char's mouth fell to a frown.

"You're hurt," he said, the concern clear in his voice.

"It's just a scratch," Glacia replied.

"It certainly doesn't look like "just a scratch" to me!" Char retorted.

With both Char and Glacia occupied, both were oblivious to the quiet coughs and chokes coming from the blood-red dragon lying mere feet in front of the encroaching wall of flames. The heat was shearing and the light like daggers in his eyes.

_So this is how I die_, the dragon thought as the flames began to eat at his side.

_Well if I'm going to die, I'm sure as heck not going alone!_

And with his final, dying breath, the dragon arched his back and let out a deafening screech that sent red ripples piercing through the air.

Glacia's and Char's heads swivelled to face the noise just as the wave hit, sending shocks of pain through their bodies and rooting them in position, contracting their muscles and forcing them to clench their eyes closed at the sheer pitch and volume of the scream.

As the screech ended, the fear dragon fell for the last time to the floor. His eyes closing as the fire consumed him.

As their bodies became free to them once more, Glacia and Char fixed each other with serious, worried looks.

"Can you fly?" Char asked quickly.

"I think so," replied Glacia, flexing her injured wing.

"Good, you'll have to go north from now on, we're surrounded on every other side. It's not ideal, but the plan will have to change; you'll have to try and find some kind of settlement in the mountains instead."

In the distance, another screech could be heard in reply to the now departed dragon's call. They were coming back.

Glacia nodded. "What about you?" she asked.

Char's face suddenly grew steely and unemotional. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can and try to lead them away from you."

Glacia grew slightly angry at this answer. "You only just got here and now you're going to leave? There's practically an entire army out there, you can't possibly do that on your own!" she exclaimed.

"I know, but at this point I'm not the important one. It's essential that you reach somewhere safe. For all of our sakes," Char's face was one of pleading. Glacia knew that he was right and turning her head away she admitted defeat.

The screeches were becoming regular again, but from several locations this time.

Char took off first, flapping his wings against the ground and taking to the air, speeding out into the clearing. Glacia was close to follow. Scooping up the basket this time in one of her free claws, she unfurled her wings and leapt into the sky, emerging from the top of the canopy just as the flames engulfed her previous position. Her wing ached and stung mightily under her weight, but she would be fine for now.

In the sky, Glacia could see dozens of tiny black dots coming over a hill from the direction that she had been running.

Char swooped back around and came up in front of her. Staring into each other's eyes, both knew that this would be the last time they would see each other again.

"Goodbye, Glacia," Char said calmly to her. The air seemed quite still at that point and it seemed as though all sound other than his voice was drained away.

"It was wonderful to have gotten to see you again one last time," even the crackling forest fire and the screeches of nearing pursuers seemed to be gone, in a far off world that Glacia was no longer in. Char smiled finally before turning away.

"Try not to get in any more trouble," and with that he was gone, gliding onwards towards now innumerable figures. With him still in hearing range, Glacia could only say one thing.

"I love you," she said, not in a cry, but just so loud that she knew Char could hear her. Char continued flying. Glacia knew that he wouldn't react or turn around again. That was just his way. Char would keep staring forwards at his oncoming destruction, in the hopes that Glacia might remember him without tears in his eyes.

Turning to the northern mountains and flying on her own way as fast as she was able, Glacia noticed wet lines streaking down her face.

XXX

It had been five days now since Glacia had begun her trek through the mountains. She had endured frigid gales and thick, blinding blizzards that buffeted her dangerously, threatening to push her off of peaks and ledges and down to her doom. For five days she had struggled up increasingly treacherous paths and passes, through temperatures so cold that even as an ice dragon, she could no longer feel her legs or wings and she shivered constantly; all that time without food, or any sign of civilisation whatsoever and still she kept the woven basket close to her, doing her best to stop it from freezing or falling away out of her reach. For the first three days, she had seen patrols in the sky, circling above. Either they hadn't seen her or they considered it too dangerous to follow. Either way, after the third day the patrols had stopped. They probably thought she was dead.

_In a few moments they might be right_, thought Glacia. By now she had been turned around dozens of times and was completely and hopelessly lost. Ever since she had reached the mountains, her injured wing had been completely useless. The strain she had put on it on the way there had been far too great and with no kind of medical attention, the slashes on her neck hadn't healed up well either and left an unhealthy looking black and dark green mark over the cuts.

Glacia was feeling very light headed as she stepped over the icy crag. Her body dragged close to the floor and Glacia was about to collapse there in the snow, however as the blizzard began to thin out, she saw something in the distance.

A pale glowing light, alone and hardly visible through the onslaught of snow, but it was definitely there. Glacia half ran, half tumbled down the slope, sustaining several painful knocks, but still Glacia continued on with the last of her determination.

As she got closer, the light became a lantern hanging in the distance, two of them, hanging either side of a tall wooden gate. Glacia sped up and as she stumbled onwards, shapes beyond and over the gate began to come into view. She couldn't believe what she could see; an entire village of wooden cabins and stone houses built on a large flat cutaway of the mountain, with some dwellings even built into openings in the rock walls, spider webs of platforms and stairways leading between each.

As Glacia shuffled at the greatest speed she could manage towards the wooden gated wall that stood in the pass between the rocks, presumably acting as some kind of protection from the harsh winds, she began to hear muffled, quiet voices from the other side.

"Hello!?" Glacia cried at the top of her lungs that burnt from the cold air.

The voices suddenly became confused and surprised, followed by the sound of creaking stairs and a golden-brown dragon head peeking over the top of the wall, eyes squinting towards Glacia's general direction. When his eyes focussed upon her, his brows rose high, his eyes becoming wide with shock and his jaw dropping. The dragon head quickly receded back over the wall and now Glacia was close enough to just hear what they were saying in over the howling wind.

"What do you mean there's someone out there?" came one voice.

"I mean exactly that!" said another, presumably the golden-brown dragon.

There was a slight pause after this.

"Well, go get master Gravidus out here, he'll know what to do."

XXX

Master Gravidus had been awoken in the early hours of the morning to the sound of hasty knocking on the door. Getting up drowsily and wondering what could possibly have happened that demanded his attention so greatly that it couldn't wait until he had at least had breakfast, he opened the door and peered out. It was the middle of winter and the snow was falling as heavily as ever. The lower plains and southern cities wouldn't be getting it nearly as bad, perhaps just a chilly breeze or an inch or two of snow at the most, though colder weather did come with some advantages; master Gravidus had only just been getting used to late mornings.

A young ice dragon greeted him, with a somewhat troubled look on his face.

"Ah, young Permin," Gravidus greeted him wearily. "And to what do I owe the pleasure this _fine_ morning?"

"Well, er, sir, master that is, it's just that there's someone at the gates," Permin stammered.

Gravidus' eyes grew wide from his drowsy stupor and he was suddenly very awake.

"The gates?" Gravidus exclaimed. "Which ones?"

"The… north-western gates, sir" Permin replied awkwardly. He had never quite figured out how to properly address the strangely young master. "A dragoness, sir," he finished.

Gravidus was just as surprised as he should have been. No one ever came from the north-western gates.

"Well by the Ancestors, let her in!" Gravidus responded, walking briskly out of the warmth of his home and dragging the ice dragon with him.

"Come along now, Permin… say, what exactly were you doing out at the gates at this hour?" The response was silence. "Not sneaking out, were you?" Gravidus demanded.

"No, sir," Permin hastily replied.

"Good. We have rules for a reason."

The gates creaked slowly open, shards of ice snapping from the scarcely moved wooden walls. Glacia leaned forwards with all of her remaining strength; her shivering had stopped, but she felt colder than ever. With one final pull from the two young dragons operating the mechanism, the gates swung freely open and Glacia, losing her support, tumbled forwards through them, collapsing weakly on the frosted ground.

Glacia's vision blurred, the dark edges around her skewing inward, making it seem like she was viewing the faces of the dragons that rushed towards her through the end of a long black tunnel. Their voices blurted in unison, "_Hello? Can you hear me? Who is she? Can she walk? Help, Someone get a healer! Who are you?_" but Glacia was too tired to understand them, even to separate one from another.

So tired.

And the world was suddenly serene. Clear of thought. Clear of doubt.

Glacia reached out.

Gravidus felt the paw on his chest and looked back down at the fallen dragoness from where he had been calling for someone to help him carry her.

Their eyes locked; hers cerulean blue, his pale yellow.

And she smiled, a thin, cracked-lip, but warmth-filled smile.

Glacia would say one last thing before she slept:

"Her name is Aura."

"No," Gravidus whispered in disbelief as Glacia slumped sideways, revealing a small, cloth covered wicker basket.

And then she slept. A restful sleep. A welcoming embrace, beneath a blanket of nothingness. Happy memories floated through her consciousness; her home-town, trips down to the river on bright summer's days, laughing, smiling faces... and Char.

For a moment, she considered how bittersweet it seemed and how much she'd give to go back to those days, until the moment was gone and all thoughts descended into oblivion.

Gravidus edged towards the basket, carefully removing the dragoness' lifeless claws. He slowly peeled back the red cloth slowly, until he was forced to look away, the tears budding in his eyes from discovering exactly what he feared he would.

Nestled in the basket, curled up closed eye amongst bundles of woollen fabric, lay a tiny purple and white Dragoness.

Months later, when the harshness of winter died away, retreating north to its frozen keep in the mountains, the hatchling would recover completely beneath the watch of Gravidus, full of health and ready to begin the new age.

XXX

_A/N: Thank you for reading my first chapter, quite a few mysteries to be solved here, eh?_

_Huge props to Telekinetic Moose for being my beta reader and for talking with me about the ideas in my story._

_For those interested, TM is also writing his own Spyro Fic, called The Legend of Spyro: the Dawn of Hope which is looking really good so far._

_Reviews are very much appreciated; please tell me what you thought of the Prologue! What did I do well with? What was absolutely terrible? I haven't really got much of a schedule here, so your guess is as good as mine as to when the next chapter comes out. The next chapter will be titled "Forgotten"._

_I don't own Spyro (although if I did, I'm fairly certain Skylanders wouldn't exist) yadda yadda, copyright and such. See you next time!_


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